Callaborating with others..

[ericlingus]

okay not sure where to post this so i'll post it here. My friend and I are starting a music project. We play melodic death/black metal. We seem to get very unfocused and not accomplish anything. What do you guys do to get things done? I'm thinking we both come up with a few riffs on our own and when we meet up we show them to each other and work out a song from it. After that we record what we have written so far. Does that sound like a good idea? Right now we just meet up and just start trying to come up with riffs. But it doesn't work out that way. I think work needs to be done on our own then bring our ideas to each other and go from there. What do you think?

[Creamyapples1]

Practice on your own, practice together and don't worry about recording anything until you have an arrangement in place. Unless you just want to record to keep track of what's going on, but in that case I wouldn't spend much time setting up and tweaking the recording setup. You need to have something worth recording before you get serious about recording.

[Zed10R]

Here's what I do:

Focus.

Really....that is very important.

Plug in the guitar and play. When you hit on something that you like, focus on it untill you are able to record it well. Then continue playing untill you hit on somehting else. Then focus on that until you can record it well. After you've amassed several dozen riffs and cool chord progrssions, sequnce them together into parts of songs. Then use those parts of songs as inspiration to come up with more parts.

For me, every single melody, riff, progression, or rythm "knows" where it wants to go and what needs to come after it. But it took years to get to that point. Just play. You will find your way.

Remember to focus. You might need to put the joint down if you find yourself forgetting what you just played.....

[ez_willis]

Quit smokin' weed before you get together. And hide the remote.

[annunaki]

Get out there and play live too. We played shows for 6-8 months before we got into the studio, and the few tracks we had came together real quick.

[ericlingus]

hard to play live seeing how it's just the two of us. I don't really wanna play live anyways. At least right now. That's the problem. Focus. I focus pretty well but my friend has fucking ADHD and isn't on any meds for it! So he trails off and then I get discouraged and start caring.

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by ez_willis

Quit smokin' weed before you get together. And hide the remote.

!!!!

Beat me to it!!!

[ericlingus]

lol we don't smoke weed. Well not before jamming anyways I remember when we used to do that and get wasted as well. While it was fun, not much was accomplished. I think us both coming up with riifs on our own and then showing them to each other when we meet up will be the best way.

[Gonny]

Originally Posted by ericlingus

my friend has fucking ADHD and isn't on any meds for it!

If that's the case then working on stuff yourself that you can bring to him for collaberation seems that much more important. Have a bunch of ideas ready so you can switch gears when he starts getting distracted.

[ericlingus]

yeah. I think that'll work best. Thanks guys.

[punkin]

At the end of every practice, send everyone with a clear list of homework. When practice starts, break the tune down and work on it section by section. You clearly need a leader but not a dungeon master. If there's no clear leader in the group, what you've got is all there will be. Is the band working? I mean making any money? That's always been a motivator for the guys that have worked for me. Bottom line if you don't practice and you suck...you will be cut.

After a good practice...then giggle smoke or staggar water...not before or during.

[ericlingus]

we dont make any money or play live. This is a studio project. I will be the leader. My friend really isn't that type. We both need to come up with riffs on our own and some song ideas. When we meet up we show each other the riffs and come up with another guitar part for it. Then we map out a song. At the end we record everything we wrote that session. I think this will work out. If it doesn't, clearly we don't really want to do it and should just stop.

[brevity]

Originally Posted by ericlingus

hard to play live seeing how it's just the two of us. I don't really wanna play live anyways. At least right now. That's the problem. Focus. I focus pretty well but my friend has fucking ADHD and isn't on any meds for it! So he trails off and then I get discouraged and start caring.

I play in a band that's just me and a drummer. What we lack in other instruments we more than make up for in volume. Think two all-tube half stacks and crown power amps.

Anyway, if you just WANT to record vs. play live, you can do that... but playing live is the only way to really and truly become a good working musician IMHO. You get a chance to hone skills you never even knew you had.

[annunaki]

Yeah, and just the things you learn playing live will help you in the studio. What songs people like to hear and stuff like that. How can you play death metal without a drummer?!!

[ericlingus]

it's hard to play live with just two guitarists. Not too many musicians around here. But i'm not really interested in playing live anyways.

[ericlingus]

We don't have a drummer but I have a drum program on the computer that I use. We have a bass and synth as well. We also can do extreme vocals.